West Bancorporation Inc. (WTBA) established a new 52-week low yesterday, and could be a company to watch at the open. After opening at $16.40, West Bancorporation Inc. dropped to $16.04 for a new 52-week low. By the closing bell, the company's stock was at $16.95 a share for a gain of 4.35%.

Falling to a new 52-week low is never fun for company's shareholder, but, depending on who you ask, it can be either a buy or a sell signal.
Someone bearish on the stock might see it reaching its lowest price in a year as a sign of growing downward momentum and make sure they sell their
shares. Bulls, though, are more likely to see a new 52-week low as the stock hitting its low point and anticipate a bounce in the share price.

However one plays it, it's often a critical moment for any stock and should be noted by investors.

West Bancorporation Inc. saw 14,154 shares of its stock trade hands, that's out of 16.06 million shares outstand. The stock has an average daily
volume of 19,484 shares. After hitting a new 52-week low, West Bancorporation Inc. enters the new trading day with a market cap of 272.23 million, a 50-day SMA of $19.11 and a 200-day SMA of $19.02

West Bancorp is a holding company for West Bank. It provides commercial banking services, including checking accounts, savings accounts, money market accounts, and time certificates of deposit.

West Bancorporation Inc. has 178 employees, is led by CEO David D. Nelson, and makes its home in West Des Moines, IA.

West Bancorporation Inc. is also a component of the Russell 2000 Index, which is generally viewed as the most reliable indicator of the health of the broader small-cap market. Using a rules-based methodology, it creates a simple, unbiased view of how America's stable of smaller publicly traded companies are performing in the stock markets.

The index consists of the 2,000 smallest companies of the 3,000 largest publicly-traded companies in the country as judged by market cap. It's constructed by Russell Investments, which also builds and maintains the Russell 3000 (an index consisting of all 3,000 biggest companies by market cap) and the large-cap Russell 1000 (which has the 1,000 largest companies from the Russell 3000).

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